BUCKINGHAM PALACE HOSTS A TREASURE TROVE OF REGAL PORTRAITURE FROM OVER 100 YEARS
Ethereal yet still glowing with regal glamour and poise, the black-and-white portrait of our future Queen taken for her 40th birthday shows the then Duchess of Cambridge as we’d never seen her before.
Now royal fans have the chance to see Paolo Roversi’s 2022 photo up close thanks to new exhibition Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, which brings together a plethora of unseen photographs, proofs and handwritten letters.
Kate’s formal pose was likened to Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s 1864 painting of Alexandra, then Princess of Wales – something visitors will be able to compare for themselves as the two portraits hang close to each other in the King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace.
They join 150 items on display until 6 October, chronicling the history of royal portraiture from the 1920s with work by celebrated photographers from Sir Cecil Beaton to Rankin.
MAJESTY AND MOTHERHOOD
Queen Elizabeth II features heavily in the trove of prints from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives, but one striking image in particular stands out.
Taken by royal favourite Cecil in 1968, the stark and simple portrait shows the monarch wearing a woollen admiral’s boat cloak, her head tilted to the left and a pensive expression on her face.
Speaking to hello! in April, exhibition curator Alessandro Nasini told us it is his favourite piece in the show.
“This is from the last sitting Beaton had with Her late Majesty,” he said. “It is quite unusual in many ways, including the fact that the sitting was granted to him at his request.
“I think it is a very strong image with Queen Elizabeth II standing in front of a plain background,” he added. “She is, of course, the monarch, but she’s stripped of royal trappings such as tiaras and insignia and shown, perhaps, more as a woman, the single solitary person onto whom the great responsibility of the monarchy is bestowed.
